


The Hell Called Life

by perchance30



Series: The Teikou Coven [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Vampire Slayer, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-02
Updated: 2016-07-09
Packaged: 2018-07-19 16:21:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7368967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perchance30/pseuds/perchance30
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Looking back, Taiga would probably chock up all his feelings for Aomine Daiki to teenage hormones. He was fifteen when he first laid eyes on the sculpted vampire and at the worst of times, too. The battle had been fierce and bloodied, and despite having sworn to protect Tetsuya from all vampires, including Teikou, Tatsuya and he had been separated from the Pure during the battle and were dangerously close to losing their lives when Teikou showed up, led by their ace, Daiki. </p><p>Side Story to "The Coven Formerly Known as Teikou"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Teenage Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Just your usual forbidden love story between a vampire and a slayer, mixed with teenage angst...and did I mention vampires? This is just two parts, but chapter two has a HUGE spoiler to main story. It's not really necessary to read the main story to understand this one, but Daiki and Taiga's relationship will continue in the main story. Thanks!

Looking back, Taiga would probably chock up all his feelings for Aomine Daiki to teenage hormones. He was fifteen when he first laid eyes on the sculpted vampire and at the worst of times, too. The battle had been fierce and bloodied, and despite having sworn to protect Tetsuya from all vampires, including Teikou, Tatsuya and he had been separated from the Pure during the battle and were dangerously close to losing their lives when Teikou showed up, led by their ace, Daiki. 

Daiki looked distressed, hair disheveled, eyes narrowed and vicious, shirt already torn from a previous battle, but he was toned in all the right places—his shoulders and chest bursting with muscles, his abdomen ripped with a glorious six-pack. He tore through the cruel Dark Claws with his own brand of vicious justice, slicing open their stomachs with his claws and tearing through the werewolves with such fervor that Teikou wouldn’t need any help dispelling this latest uprising. 

Tatsuya tugged on Taiga’s arm but was unable to unhitch his gaze. “We have to go,” his older brother whispered. 

Yes. Ogiwara had been hurt, and Daiki and Teikou’s leader, Akashi Seijuro, were at his side. Midorima Shintarou held Tetsuya, so they couldn’t bring either to the Seirin Clan’s den. And Taiga and Tatsuya’d never survive just the two of them—slayers, humans—against the powerful Teikou Coven. Another time, they’d find Tetsuya, and they’d save him and Ogiwara—and with any luck, perhaps even bad luck, maybe Taiga would run into the agile and striking Aomine Daiki again.

*^*^* 

The Seirin Clan was rather new in terms of the supernatural races. Unlike most clans, whose members joined generation after generation, Seirin had been formed by the surviving children of slaughtered slayer clans. When Imayoshi told Daiki to investigate and see if Seirin would pose a threat to Touou—especially with their rumored Phantom Slayer who came out of nowhere and ended the battles—Daiki thought he’d find a vicious and bloodied clan, one that might need to be put down before they decided to attack Touou. 

He wasn’t expecting Kagami Taiga. 

The slayer lived up to his title, taking out an entire low-level coven in just under a minute. He was intriguing, if young and naïve, and when Daiki dropped down to the alleyway to introduce himself, Taiga pivoted on his back heel and swung his blade, narrowly missing Daiki’s throat. But Taiga was only human, and Daiki immediately reacted, blocking the subsequent attack with his forearm. He fell to the ground to take out Taiga’s knees, but the human flipped, almost as gracefully as a vampire, kicked off the alley wall, and lunged again. 

Daiki encouraged Taiga’s blows, forcing him to move faster, making him prove himself again and again until Daiki finished his evaluation. Then, he snatched Taiga’s neck with his superhuman strength and slammed the slayer against the wall. 

“You might be entertaining, Kagami Taiga of Seirin, but you are far from impressive.” 

Then, a tiny prick caught his attention just above his belt, and he glanced down to see Taiga’s silver dagger pressing against his abdomen. 

“I don’t want to slice that perfect six-pack, Aomine Daiki of Touou, but I will if you do not release me.” 

That surprised a low, guttural laugh from Daiki, who twisted Taiga’s wrist, but Taiga refused to release the weapon, even when Daiki approached bone-breaking strength. “Not bad, Kagami. You might make it to thirty without a vampire sucking you dry.”

“Is that your idea of come-on?” Taiga murmured with a delightful mix of awe and anticipation. Good. Daiki liked that tone upon his prey, and he adored the fiery challenge in Taiga’s eyes, the raw lust and the wayward trust, and Daiki felt an unfamiliar twist in his stomach. An unconscious smirk toyed with the edge of his lips. 

He raised both his eyebrows, an unspoken question in his actions, and after a moment of hesitation, Taiga lowered his blade and Daiki lowered his hand. He released Taiga’s neck and instead captured Taiga’s hot body against the wall with his own. He assaulted those plush, if chapped lips with a violent embrace, taking that hot mouth for a thorough exploration. 

Hm, his hand ran down the human’s abs, and damn, Taiga worked out. In fact, he must have done a lot of hours in the gym to get that sculpted six-pack, plus he was undoubtedly endowed below, his thick length already pressing against Daiki’s leg with only the faintest of touches from the vampire. 

Wow, that was a quick, but Daiki wasn’t one really one to judge. It had been a while since he’d gotten inside something so warm, something so fierce and flexible, and he couldn’t wait to feel Taiga’s walls milk his dick for everything it was worth. 

When Taiga lifted up his chin, offering his neck for Daiki to knead with his rough, demanding lips, Daiki didn’t want to just nibble. He want to lick, marking Taiga with his own unique scent and salvia, so every vampire, werewolf, and Fae in the metro-Tokyo area would know just who found Kagami Taiga first and wouldn’t dare touch the ace of Touou’s property. 

“So, you’re saying we need to worry about Seirin?” Imayoshi wondered fifteen minutes later, pulling a draft from the tap and flavoring it with a blood packet. 

Daiki collapsed onto a stool at the Midnight Tavern, finishing the stein in three long gulps and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh, yeah.”

*^*^*

It was bound to happen eventually, Daiki supposed, though he could have done without that annoying flip-flop in his stomach when he saw Kagami Taiga again. 

The Jitsuzen Pack decided to make a play for Harajuku, attacking helpless humans they believed to be slayers, and Imayoshi offered to help Seirin eradicate the nuisance since Jitsuzen had attacked Sakurai not too long ago. If not for Daiki and Wakamatsu, they’d be without their tavern chef and close-quarter fighter.

“Kagami-kun, you’ll be working with Aomine,” one of Seirin’s leaders, Aida Riko, announced. 

Daiki almost snorted. Besides taking orders from an infant—Riko was at the most nineteen, not even a fifth of Daiki’s age—Daiki had been paired with Taiga, who did his best to look fierce but managed to look fiercely sick. 

Daiki tcked. “I do better on my own. No one can keep up with me.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing we already started,” Taiga laughed, coming up behind Daiki to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. 

Daiki tried to ignore Taiga’s obscenely tight black shirt with red accents about the waist and shoulders, coupled the equally flattering jeans. Taiga was definitely a distraction, and distractions could get one killed. 

He crossed his arms and looked away. “Started? Unless you already went into Jitsuzen’s Lair and killed a handful of their—”

“We have a man on it,” Kagami confirmed and nodded to Riko, who motioned for them to begin after a glance at her phone. 

When Taiga took off, Daiki didn’t need an incentive to follow that tight ass, but he wanted answers as well. “A man?” he called after Taiga, catching up to him after a few quick strides. “Wait, are you saying the Phantom Slayer of Seirin is real?”

Taiga didn’t need to answer, not when Daiki saw the two crimson-soaked werewolves lying upon the pavement before the first door to the dog-food manufacturing plant. “Not just real,” Taiga said anyway, “but freakin’ amazing. He’s saved us tons of times, picking off the first wave of fighters and then circling back to finish off the trailers. Makes our jobs as slayers a lot easier.”

“Hm.” Daiki was almost impressed, especially when Taiga threw his dagger the second they entered the factory, slicing through two wolves before jumping on a third. Daiki watched his back, taking out two lunging wolves who would have bit off Taiga’s head. 

“B-T-W, you’re down by one,” Taiga baited, and Daiki couldn’t keep the elated smirk off his lips. So that’s why he liked this cheeky bastard. 

“Wait until the final count, rookie.”

He took the lead this time, slicing through werewolf after werewolf, only leaving the stragglers for Taiga when they were too far out of his reach or too slow that it would have been pitiful for Daiki to lower himself to killing them. Then Taiga caught up to him, flipping over his head and taking out two with quick swipes and a stern, condemning face. When he turned back toward Daiki, Daiki found himself out of breath, rushing forward so fast that Taiga couldn’t respond.

Killing werewolves and other members of the supernatural races always got Daiki going, and from the returned eagerness, he guessed it got Taiga going, too. 

Daiki took the slayer’s jaw in an unbreakable hold, and Taiga’s lips were softer this time, like he’d tried lip balm since the last time they met. When Taiga opened his mouth to allow Daiki’s tongue entrance, the vampire decided to savor Taiga’s warm and shameless body, fisting his bloodied claws in Taiga’s shirt and refusing to let him up for air. Instead, he drew his claws lower to paw Taiga’s gorgeous back-end before Taiga finally freed his mouth and sucked the tip of Daiki’s thumb, the one had held his jaw. 

If Daiki wasn’t gone before, he was now—until Taiga suddenly went completely tense, his eyes so wide Daiki could see the whites in them. There was also fear and pain, and then Daiki saw the werewolf claws sticking out of Taiga’s back. Shit. One of the werewolves Daiki had put down still had one of his arms attached or it did until Daiki sliced it off. Blood bubbled from what was left of the wolf’s body as Daiki lay Taiga down and press his hands upon the deep and nasty wounds. 

“Just hang in there, Taiga, all right? I can close the wound with—” He stopped abruptly, sniffing twice, the trace of Taiga’s blood unmistakable as it lured every vampire in Touou with its irresistible scent. 

Virgin blood had that effect upon vampires. 

*^*^*

Supernatural races didn’t generally work nine to five. Even Ryouta’s modeling gig wasn’t a normal one, so perhaps Daiki’s gig as a bouncer at Touou’s Moonlight Tavern was the closest any vampire came to holding a regular profession. The only difference was his hours went from nine P.M. to five A.M., which was why the bar was packed at three A.M. on a Tuesday night. 

Wakamatsu screamed at him from the middle of the bar where he pulled beer and mixed drinks with Susa while Satsuki came around every so often to smack him across the back of the head and order him to clean tables. He was a bouncer, though, not a waitress. If she wanted stuff cleaned, she should have gone to Sakurai or better yet, the youngest member of the coven. Oh, yeah. He should go get the kid to do all the work for him. Hm, he’d probably want a night off to play basketball in exchange for the work, but Daiki would then want to join him and—and was that Taiga who just walked into the bar? 

Daiki’s cheeks immediately flamed. He hadn’t seen the young human in the two months since the factory incident where Seirin patched up their fallen member. If it were possible for him, Daiki probably would have had a heart attack, watching as the dark crimson leaked from Taiga’s serious wound—or after Kiyoshi dropped the metaphorical bomb on Daiki about the tail he’d been chasing. 

He wanted to get Taiga immediately ejected from the Moonlight Tavern, but as the bar’s bouncer, that would be his job. And he wasn’t sure how to do that without getting hard and pouncing on the kid. 

The kid. God, Taiga was _seventeen._

Sighing, Daiki resigned to his position and hoped the darkness of the bar hid his own vibrant blush. He walked up to Taiga and tightened his hands into fists, so he wouldn’t be tempted to grab the younger male in a demanding embrace. 

“You have a death wish, Kagami? We welcome slayers, but few are actually brave enough to come in.”

With Daiki’s sudden appearance in front of him, Taiga held a silver dagger ready to pierce and only re-holstered it in his leather jacket’s sleeve once he recognized Daiki.

“Y’know, from the stories I’d heard about you, I thought you’d be taller,” he said with a cocked head and a smart-ass smile.

Anyone who had stories about him would be the former members of the Teikou Coven, and none of them spoke of their time together, especially Daiki. “Whoever you spoke to lied.”

“Nah, but you aren’t not even a centimeter taller than me.”

And Taiga still wasn’t done growing, Daiki figured. He probably wouldn’t done for a few years, even, and if his _excitement_ for Daiki was any indication, he had a lot of growing to do, emotionally as well as physically. Daiki ignored his own thundering heartbeat and the throbbing desire deep in his belly. 

He motioned to Taiga to follow him and patted a stool at the end of the bar before fixing the kid a quick drink. Taiga took one sip and made a face. 

“It’s a virgin.”

“Just like you.”

That adorable blush stole Daiki’s soul every time—or perhaps it would if he still had one. 

“Look, kid, you’re seventeen, y’know? You know how old I am?”

“Older than dirt.”

“Watch your mouth,” Daiki ordered with little heat and leaned his elbows upon the bar. “Look, you’re a good kid, y’know? You have no business being in with the slayers, and even less business hanging around—”

A dark, unrelenting scowl etched itself onto Taiga’s youthful features. “I killed my first vampire when I was eight, stabbed him in the heart with a silver shredder. Y’know, one of those cheese graters, not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle villain.”

Daiki shook his head and suppressed a laugh. “They’re usually made out of stainless steel, aren’t they?”

“The villain?”

“The cheese grater,” Daiki replied, shaking his head. “You can’t stab with one of those, anyway.”

“You’d be surprised what can used as a weapon, what can… _impale_ people.”

Taiga took a long lip of his drink then, and Daiki saw the prolonged gulps, the blatant come-on. He shook himself to focus on Taiga’s leering eyes. 

“Look, kid. I get that you’re bad ass, okay? I even respect that, but you’re just a kid, slayer or not. So you’re just wasting your time. Go find someone else to play out your teenage fantasies on.”

Taiga opened his mouth to retort, fire once more igniting his eyes, before a massive, hairy hand captured Taiga’s shoulder. “Hm. You’d be a tasty meal, human. Why don’t you feed me your blood and other flavors?”

Daiki wasn’t sure exactly when he moved, only that the bar shook under his hands when he pushed off. The werewolf whimpered when he slammed into the pavement outside of the bar, bloodied and bruised, and though Daiki said nothing, the warning was evident. 

“Hey, Ahomine!” Wakamatsu admonished from behind the bar when Daiki stomped through the tavern. “Don’t go throwing out paying customers who have a right to find a good—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Daiki growled, clamping a hand about Taiga’s wrist and tugging him off the stool with one jerk. 

“Aomine,” Taiga called as he followed Daiki like a loyal puppy. They weaved about the crowded tables and through the busy pub kitchen before Daiki kicked open the back door. Taiga grunted when his back connected with the deserted alley wall, and Daiki sealed their lips in a heated, desperate embrace. 

He wasn’t sure why he felt this way—what was it about Taiga?—but a fierce wave of jealousy swept through Daiki the moment he saw the werewolf’s lust. He wanted to protect Taiga; he needed to protect what was his, even if he wasn’t sure Taiga was his yet. But his lips moved on their own, off of Taiga’s mouth which now exploded with frantic gasps. Taiga’s moan vibrated against Daiki’s lips as he began devouring the teen’s neck with a force meant to bruise, and then his tongue slid up Taiga’s delicious, pristine skin. Over and over, Daiki coated Taiga’s neck with his own scent and taste.

Taiga melted against Daiki, legs trembling as he struggled to stay standing, and then he suddenly froze, mouth open but void of any sound, and Daiki glanced down at the obvious stain in front of Taiga’s pants. 

He smiled then, perhaps only to himself, and pressed a tender but chaste kiss to Taiga’s stunned lips, even as that adorable flush spread across the slayer’s cheeks. “You are so young.”

“S-Shut up!” Taiga fumed, pushing at Daiki, but Daiki wouldn’t release him, arms curling about Taiga’s large frame. 

“You are just so cute.”

“And you’re such an asshole. I don’t know why I’m so—so—”

The blush deepened, if that was even possible, and Daiki fisted his hands in Taiga’s shirt, above his waistline. “—infatuated? Enamored? Obsessed?”

“Pissed off by you!” But Taiga didn’t pull away. “You’re like a friggin’ fungus, growing on me and refusing to die.”

Daiki laughed, enjoying Taiga’s warmth against him. “I’m not going to fuck you.”

Taiga’s head seemed to dip, and if Daiki didn’t know any better, he’d think Taiga was disappointed. That wasn’t a pout, wasn’t it? Yup, there went to his balls, not that he’d actually _tell_ the kid that. 

“Look, Aomine, I—”

“Impress me, Taiga,” Daiki teased, drawing his tongue across Taiga’s jaw again. “Impress me. Show me you can hold your own in this world, and in three years, we’ll see, all right?” 

“Three years!” Taiga shrieked. “I’m not a kid!”

Perhaps he wouldn’t tell Taiga just how old he was, in any case. 

“Yeah, you are, and this is the very last time I’m going to treat you like an adult before you are one.” He nipped Taiga’s ear before separating himself from that addictive warmth and shedding his sweatshirt, so Taiga could cover his stained pants. “You’ve got a lot of growing up to do, and I’m going to make sure you do it. All right?”

Taiga accepted the shirt and tied it about his waist, so the sleeves covered his groin. “You are going to suck me dry before I’m thirty, right? That wasn’t just a threat.”

Daiki grunted. Even for a vampire as old as himself, the next three years were going to be an eternity. 

*^*^*

Taiga’s eyes lit up with every moan that came from Daiki’s closed mouth, though he tried to hide his enjoyment with a quick laugh. 

“You can’t love it that much.”

“Hm. I can’t say it wouldn’t be better with a certain red sauce, but it’s as near to perfect as it can be,” Daiki mused as he shoveled another bite into his mouth from the Tupperware. 

They sat high above the streets of Tokyo on a roof, legs dangling off the edge as they met for what Taiga called “a dinner date.” Daiki seemed to oblige him with one a week, though Taiga surmised Daiki liked to use them to mark him with his scent. 

Taiga opened another container and muttered through his stuffed mouth, “August 2nd.” 

Daiki arched an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“August 2nd is my birthday, in case you were wondering.”

Stopping in mid-bite, Daiki thought for a moment. “Well, that means you have two and a half years to impress me, and despite how good this curry is, it ain’t going to do it.”

“Well, when you are going to start impressing me, huh?” Taiga retorted, muttering through his eating. “I’m a teenage slayer who can jerk off at the sight of my own hand, let alone your ugly mug, so don’t think I’ll hang around two and a half years with empty promises and cold embraces.”

That was a very good point, Daiki conceded. “I’ll buy dinner next week. Maji Burger?”

Taiga’s scowl lightened then, and he bit off a piece of chicken. “Next two weeks.”

“Geez. You don’t even have a ring, and already you’re nagging me.”

“I have a ring,” Taiga defended, playing with his necklace. “It’s just not from you.”

Daiki wasn’t jealous. He really wasn’t. His claws just slipped and sliced through Taiga’s chain when giving his human boyfriend a good-night kiss. 

*^*^*

“Taiga, I will kill you in five seconds if you do not leave.”

It wasn’t an idle threat, either. Daiki didn’t talk to anyone on this specific day every year. By now, after three years, Touou knew to avoid Daiki and not even expect to see him for a month or so. He just fled into the shadows, usually lingering by a nearby streetball court where he’d watch the college kids play for hours on end and then retreat to where the sun couldn’t touch him. He never ate. He rarely slept. He just existed, whatever good that did anyone. 

Sometimes his own kid would seek him out and just sit with him for hours on end, neither saying anything, but needing be near each other during this time. And never, ever did he expect to come across Taiga on the streetball court, dressed in a long-sleeved red shirt and comfy sweatpants. 

He found Daiki lingering by the trees after a few seconds and threw the ball at him to play. 

Daiki impaled the ball with his claws before tossing the useless leather to the ground. He growled at Taiga, actually growled at the eighteen-year-old slayer, something he’d never done to Taiga before, and then he hated himself for the momentary fear that shot through Taiga’s gaze. Taiga recovered quickly, though, brash front returning in a second’s time. 

“So…bad day? Someone didn’t run over your dog, did they?”

Tetsu used to compare himself to pet, and the bitter reminder only sharpened the metaphorical knife already twisting Daiki’s insides.

He wasn’t mad at Taiga, not really, and he didn’t speak again to the slayer when he came off the court. It didn’t deter Taiga, either, from coming and placing his warm hands on either side of Daiki’s face, cradling his cheeks. Daiki wrapped his arms about the slayer’s muscular torso and buried his face in Taiga’s shoulder, comforted by the warm, familiar body that fit against his. 

The heated body reminded him of Tetsuya, and Daiki wondered how tall Tetsuya would be now, what he would like and sound like, coming out on the opposite side of puberty. Daiki wondered how long it’d be until he forgot the sound of Tetsuya’s voice, the innocent glimmer in his eyes, and that soft but true smile that brightened his face when he saw Daiki coming to the streetball court, this streetball court. 

“It’s all right, y’know,” Taiga soothed, pressing a tender kiss to Daiki’s temple. “I mean, it’s not, and I’m sorry for whatever shit you’re going through. But you’re a vampire. So you have eternity to get over it, but I’m sure it won’t take that—”

“Shut up, _Bakagami_ ,” Daiki hissed in an exhausted tone, though he tightened his hold upon the young, startled mortal. 

That was the problem with dating humans and other things that died. They didn’t know what it was like to outlive your loved ones and feel the pain of their loss until you forgot them, which perhaps was even a worse fate. 

But at the moment, Daiki didn’t care about that. He wanted to be out of this crippling pain that choked his throat and burned his eyes, and he wondered how long it would be until he forgot Tetsuya completely, until this day was just another Tuesday. He wondered how long it would take to forget Taiga, another mistake that he wasn’t sure his heart could take.

God, he really was an asshole, but he sometimes wished he’d never saved Tetsuya. Though the kid would be in pain, he would still be alive. 

*^*^*

“Nuh-uh. He doesn’t exist.”

“You’re just mad ‘cause you’ve never seen him,” Taiga dismissed as he threw a dagger, snagging a vampire directly in the throat. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.” 

“You seriously want me to believe there is a Phantom Slayer?” Crossing his arms Daiki stood off to the shadows, watching as Taiga took a part a handful of vampires, yawning so loud, his action could not have been seen as anything but rude. “Yeah, right. Seirin came up with that shit, so everyone will be scared of your boogie man and would leave you guys alone.”

Taiga shrugged and finished off the last vampire with a quick flick of his wrist and a precise swipe of his blade. “Werewolves and fairies exist, Ahomine. You’re a freakin’ vampire! You really think there isn’t room in the supernatural races for an Invisible Man?”

Daiki’s nose wrinkled. “You could introduce me, y’know.”

Taiga laughed, too quick and too breathless to be natural. “Sure. Right after you introduce me to that vampire you call your kid.”

A beat. “You are a freakin’ pain in the ass. You know that, right?”

“Really?” Dipping down to a fallen vampire, Taiga reclaimed his knife, wiped the excess blood off on the vampire’s shirt, and then sheathed the weapon. When he turned, his jeaned ass was in perfect position for Daiki to devour with his eyes. “And here I thought you wanted to be a pain in _my_ ass.”

*^*^*

Taiga ambushed Daiki right outside the Moonlight Tavern moments after dusk, like he’d been waiting to see him all day, and demanded, “Tell me how you became a vampire.”

That was a story Daiki told no one—not even Tetsu—and only Akashi knew it because he’d killed Daiki’s sire before bringing Daiki into Teikou. He wasn’t about to tell Taiga, despite his quasi-boyfriend’s desperate and tearstained face. 

“What’s gotten your panties in a bunch?” Daiki growled with more than a little concern in his gruff voice, and he tugged Taiga into the nearby alcove of the bar. 

But Taiga ignored his question, gripping the front of Daiki’s shirt to keep upright. His hands shook fiercely, almost as much as his eyes. “Tell me, Daiki. Please. D-Did it hurt? Did you choose to become a vampire, or did-did someone force you to? What—”

Daiki wished he could take more pleasure in hearing his first name sound on Taiga’s lips, but when he imagined Taiga saying it, the young slayer always whispered it, in the throes of heat, almost like a sacred prayer, urging Daiki to continue his very thorough, very improper actions. 

Instead, he’d heard it first in a rushed and frantic speech, blurted out for no other reason than necessity. 

“Daiki—”

“Taiga,” Daiki interrupted, strong arms encircling Taiga’s shuddering body to comfort. One of his fingers came up to mess Taiga’s hair. “Tell me what happened, so I can kill the bastard, whoever he is.”

“It’s Tatsuya.” What thin barriers remained burst in the flood that followed. “He—Murasakibara Atsushi of Yosen bit him during a battle with a coven. He’s a vampire now.”

Himuro Tatsuya, Taiga’s older brother and a fellow slayer in Seirin—well, former slayer now, Daiki supposed. Teikou rarely contacted each other anymore, instead choosing to lick their wounds in private, but Daiki knew if Murasakibara bit Tatsuya, then the giant vampire had come to actually _tolerate_ Tatsuya, perhaps even like him, probably very similar to how Daiki felt about Taiga. 

Daiki wasn’t sure if he’d ever bite Taiga if he was dying—the last time he’d bitten someone _was_ to turn them into a vampire, since he’d vowed never to drink from a live body again—but as he thought about watching Taiga grimace in agony, ugly tears dribbling down the sides of his cheeks, not unlike now, Daiki hated himself.

Every vampire forced to become a member of the supernatural races vowed never to turn anyone into one. After more than two hundred years, losing a handful of humans you’ve come to know as “indispensable” and “irreplaceable,” and deciding you’ve lost your soul along the way—Daiki realized that his soul wasn’t internal but external, safeguarded by those he held so precious. 

Over the last few years, he didn’t hate himself for doing many of the deeds he had. He hated himself for not saving those he could have with a single bite. 

Why hadn’t ever thought to bite Tetsu? When the battle came too close to the tower, why hadn’t they sacrificed Tetsu’s mortality for his life? It would have saved him. 

It would have saved the Teikou Coven. 

He vaguely thought about heading to Akita and talking to Murasakibara. He was terrible at that sort of stuff, but the vicious giant was probably questioning his choice and sanity right then. A word of encouragement would help the giant, who probably thought he’d damned another soul to the hell they called life. And Daiki would tell him the truth without any remorse. 

He’d done the wrong thing, but Daiki had, too. And he would again, Daiki relented. Taiga’s mom was a vampire; his brother was now one, too. He currently dated a vampire. It only made sense that he, too, would eventually become one. 

Except…

What of Taiga’s other sibling, a little brother? Taiga had never mentioned his name, so they always referred to him as “Phantom.”

Daiki eventually asked, and Taiga pressed his face against Daiki’s chest. “He was injured in the fight. He doesn’t even know yet. I-I don’t know how to tell him.”

Daiki closed his eyes and rested his forehead against his trouble human’s and allowed himself to address the truth. He was frigging whipped by a nineteen-year-old brat, had been for quite awhile now. To think, he’d sacrifice his balls two years already. The years seemed to flash through like days, even hours, sometimes, while other times passed at a snail’s pace. 

Sighing, Daiki surrendered to Taiga’s earnest question, drawing soothing circles upon Taiga’s toned back with his claws. 

“It hurts to become a vampire. Of course it’s going to. You’re literally changing the make-up of every cell in your body. You’re going against nature, and that doesn’t happen without sacrificing something. Most of the time, it’s happiness.”

Taiga went uncharacteristically silent then, and Daiki closed his eyes, trying to stop the horrible visions from resurfacing. “And no, I wasn’t given a choice to become a vampire. Very few people are, and even then, they usually chose against it. Immortality isn’t as awesome as it sounds. It’s lonely. And boring, and being in covens—that’s how we survive, y’know? We form our bonds there and then protect the members until our last breath...which can be a really, really long time ,” he finished in a whisper.

“How do you do it?” Taiga wondered in a muted scream. 

Daiki laughed, despite himself. “By wasting my time with whiny brats like you. Sometimes, I even get me some, and other times, we fight the other supernatural races to remind us we’re immortal but not invincible.

“And it doesn’t suck _all_ the time,” Daiki added quickly. He didn’t do “comfort” all that well. “It just sucks most of the time. And Murasakibara—he’ll watch over your brother, so you don’t have to worry about him. If he made Tatsuya a vampire, then he cares for him more than his snacks, and that’s saying something.”

“I hate that guy,” Taiga hissed. “He’s like an overgrown kid, all annoying and lazy and absurdly large. I don’t know why Aniki likes him.”

Daiki heard the unspoken question. Why Tatsuya choose Murasakibara over Taiga, over Phantom?

Tatsuya didn’t, Daiki knew. Turning Tatsuya into a vampire must have been a last resort, but instead of trying and failing to explain that, Daiki decided to show Taiga what Tatsuya saw in Murasakibara by capturing those wet lips in a heated, smothering embrace until Taiga was hard against him, panting and dazed. 

_Yeah, that’s why._

“Daiki?” Taiga started, breathless and so vulnerable. “I…Look, you k-know—You know, you and me, we’ve got something…well, we’ve started, and I really—”

Taiga was _so_ young. “I don’t wait two and a half years to fuck someone because I _like_ them, Taiga.”

The deep blush swept across Taiga’s face before he pressed his face against Daiki’s shoulder. “You don’t have to be so blunt,” he murmured without heat. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daiki muttered and ruffled the hair on Taiga’s nape. 

_To Be Continued..._


	2. Daiki Doesn't Think He Woos (But He's Wrong)

Daiki wasn’t a romantic. He didn’t sprinkle flower petals or put on candles. He didn’t do that “woo” thing. He usually found a lay, completed the deed, and then drank a morning meal. 

But Taiga was different, and Daiki was at a loss about how to go about making sex comfortable and enjoyable for a first-time mortal, especially on someone’s entrance into adulthood. And if he’d only admit it to himself, he was nervous. He’d never waited more than three minutes to take any partner, let alone three _years_ , and though he wasn’t worried about his performance, there was no doubt that Taiga would have expectations Daiki wanted to fulfill of what the day would bring.

So Daiki did what he did best—put on his patented scowl, pull a beer for the newly matured Taiga, and then all but threw him out of the Moonlight Tavern the next morning when Taiga refused to leave. 

He avoided Taiga over the next few days, unsure exactly what to do about the entire situation, when he came across Kiyoshi Teppei, the Iron Heart Slayer of Seirin. They’d run into each other while Seirin’s senior members hunted a particularly nasty member of Meikou who apparently stepped out of line and killed a kid. When Daiki heard of the fucker from Sakura, he decided to end the bastard’s eternal existence himself, but Seirin beat him to it. 

“Y’know, being a slayer is very dangerous,” Kiyoshi said in that easy tone like he and Daiki were old friends—as if Daiki should care about the lives of slayers, “especially for young slayers. There’s an unwritten rule that once a slayer reaches maturity, they engage in sexual activity. It’s the safest course.”

Daiki had been walking away and toward the rundown apartment’s exit when he staggered. Why the hell would Kiyoshi tell him this shit? He didn’t need to know slayers and their sexual issues, though his curiosity might have gotten the better of him. 

“Safest course? What sort of stupid shit are you feeding the—”

“Virgin blood is the best food for vampires, yeah? It gives you the most strength.” Kiyoshi slapped Daiki on the top of the head, and it took all of Daiki’s will power not to slice the slayer’s arm off. “That’s what this vampire was doing. Hunting virgin blood, and he went after Kagami first. He fended him off, but if Kagami’s little brother hadn’t felt his distress, we might not have arrived in time.” 

Daiki’s nostrils flared. His shoulders crept upward as his back prickled, and he glared back to where the sick bastard had met his end by Hyuga’s blade. Daiki’s own claws extended at the thought of what he would have done to the Meikou fucker if he’d gotten to him first, but he managed to utter through his haze of anger, “Where is he?”

“Probably playing basketball down at this streetball court he likes to frequent.”

During the three train rides and two-mile run it took Daiki to get to the court, he cursed himself. This was wrong. Sex should be something special to Taiga the first time, not a rushed, haphazard event done on a streetball court in the middle of the night. But when he finally reached the asphalt, Daiki could hardly breathe at the sight of Taiga in a black T-shirt, which held his torso like a second skin, showcasing his sculpted six-pack. His basketball shorts didn’t hang particularly low, but they were appealing all the same and loose for quick access to Taiga’s most intimate areas. He wore those tight workout pants under the shorts, probably to suck up the sweat, but they could easily be torn. A thin coating of sweat shimmered on Taiga’s tanned skin, granting him an alluring glow, and that naturally tasseled red mop called to Daiki like a beacon. 

When Taiga turned toward him, he continued to bounce the ball and offered a friendly but uncertain smile, like he wasn’t sure exactly where they stood. “Yo, Ahomine! You gonna play or what?”

There was a nasty red scrap that ran up his forearm before it disappeared under the shirt sleeve, and Taiga seemed to be nursing a limp. He grabbed the ball and waited expectantly, eyes narrowed in confusion. 

Then he grunted when his back collided with the metal fence in a blink of an eye, Daiki having used his enhanced speed to rush the mortal. Daiki was fierce, his own scent upon Taiga’s neck gone, replaced by that bastard from Meikou, and he silenced the question upon Taiga’s tongue by fusing their mouths together in a searing kiss. He wasn’t one to take things slow and savor them, but a part of him wanted to remember this, wanted to make this something unforgettable and enjoyable for Taiga, too. Unfortunately, the situation wouldn’t allow for such indulgences, and instead, Daiki kept Taiga pressed against the fence with his own heaving body, enjoying the young mortal’s blazing heat as he dragged his lips from Taiga’s slack mouth, pressing kisses along his jaw until he dipped under Taiga’s chin to lick the salty taste up his neck. 

That sent a jolt of pleasure through Taiga’s body, if the sudden trembling of his taut muscles and sharp intake of air said anything. 

“I—I thought…you didn’t want me,” Taiga stammered, warm breath and strangled voice brushing across Daiki’s ear. 

Daiki’s hands slipped under Taiga’s shirt, running over the tight muscles before pulling up the bottom helm up and over Taiga’s hand. Taiga took his cheeks then, cradling them between those massive hands, forcing Daiki to meet those liquid fire eyes. 

Daiki caved. 

“You’re different from the other losers,” he muttered, diving forward to press his lips against Taiga’s neck, needing to feel his pulse rise under his intimate touches. “I actually want you to feel good, not just me, y’know?”

Taiga’s indulgent laugh was sweet, twisting Daiki’s insides as he started leaving his scent all over Taiga again, even going insofar as to clean his arm wound and speed up the healing. “You really are an asshole, aren’t you?”

“I haven’t been hiding it.”

Daiki left a trail of kisses from Taiga’s sculpted collarbone to the tight muscles of shoulder, where he paused when his lips brushed the rough scratches. 

No, not scratches. A blood seal. 

“You’re bonded?” Daiki practically shrieked, holding Taiga’s biceps against the cold metal, even as he felt the proof of Taiga’s arousal pressed against his thigh. 

“Well, yeah,” Taiga said with a glance down at the red marking on his shoulder. “My little brother was almost killed two years ago, so I bonded with him to share my life force and save him.”

Daiki fought against his vampire instincts to shred anyone who dared to defile his prey and at the moment, gave into other urges, lowering his lips to Taiga’s slick skin again before his hand slipped under the elastic band of his shorts. 

“Hope he doesn’t have a heart condition,” Daiki purred. 

Taiga shivered pleasantly, a soft gasp escaping that hot mouth when Daiki bit his neck—not hard enough to break the skin but just enough to shock the younger mortal—and squeezed his burgeoning erection. He sucked and stroked alternatively, enjoying Taiga’s wet pants and encouraging groans, and eventually, he smiled against Taiga’s neck when the mortal’s unskilled but confident hand reaches for Daiki’s jeans. 

It was harder to get off jeans than shorts, so Daiki helped, unfastening the top bottom and quickly forcing open the fly, silently basking in Taiga’s whimpered disapproval of Daiki’s retreat from his body. But Daiki returned quickly, tongue swirling about the stiff peak of Taiga’s nipple while his hands went to palm Taiga’s clenched ass. When his fingers dipped under Taiga’s shorts, he raised his head to press a tender, savoring kiss to Taiga’s lips, melting the mortal against him again. 

“Relax. It’ll hurt the first time, but it’ll feel good. I’ll make it feel good,” he promised before he sliced through the tight, skin-tight pants under the shorts. 

Taiga’s eyes were hazy, half-lidded with lust and desire, and he nodded, his body easing to allow Daiki to spread his cheeks and test the firm muscle of his pucker. Taiga’s hiss was not unexpected, as Daiki’s fingers would be cold, and coupled with the cool lube, the intrusion was not a pleasant first impression. It took a few dips and one firm push past the stubborn muscle to finally enter his middle finger to the knuckle and then Taiga’s walls immediately tightened, so hot and thick. Daiki tried to calm his own breathing, but the simple thought of Taiga’s strong walls milking his cock dry was enough to make his heart thump rapidly. He forced himself to focus on loosening the mortal’s eager pucker, so he could finally sink into the tempting warmth. 

Taiga managed to keep his cries low, though tremors wracked his body violently as Daiki began to open his most private areas. In fact, when Daiki applied a second finger, Taiga’s uncomfortable grunts turned into groans of pleasure. His walls squeezed Daiki’s fingers, urging them farther, deeper, and the ring of muscle fluttered helplessly. 

Taiga started to move with Daiki’s thrusts, then tensed when Daiki’s scissor-ed his fingers. He retaliated with a pinch him on the ass; Daiki awarded him with a bite on his collar. 

“Oi! Who would have thought you could get bold, huh?”

Taiga was breathless and sounded so very wanton. “Just shut up and stick it in me already.”

“You gotta wait until you’re ready, baka, or it _will_ hurt,” Daiki chastised, but he wasn’t one to wait, either. His dick was already painfully hard and currently prickling with friction as it rubbed against Taiga’s stomach and the waistband of his shorts. 

Daiki quickly added a third finger, which forced a choked moan from Taiga’s throat, and then Taiga pressed his face against Daiki’s shirt, hands clenching the fabric as it soaked up some of the tears and sweat from his face. 

It would still be tight, but they’d just have to make do. Daiki widened the elastic band of Taiga’s shorts to drop them to the asphalt and then tore straight through the legging and tight black briefs to see Taiga’s stiff cock for the first time. 

“Respect,” Daiki laughed. 

When Taiga lifted his head up, his cheeks were bright red with embarrassment, and he was looking at anywhere but Daiki. “Shut up and just—”

“—stick it in. Yeah, yeah. I heard. And I thought I was impatient.”

With his augmented strength, Daiki easily flipped Taiga, so now he faced the chain-link fence, fingers threaded through the metal. Taiga stuck his ass out eagerly, alluringly, and Daiki thought nothing ever looked as delectable as a lewd Taiga wanting nothing but his cock. He gave himself a quick few strokes, the sight of Taiga’s naked backside more than enough to bring Daiki close to the edge, and he wondered how he ever waited three years for this. 

He leaned over the delirious slayer, hands ghosting over Taiga’s tingling skin before nibbling on the top of Taiga’s ear. “Relax, Taiga. Just relax and trust me.”

Taiga’s whine was needy and incoherent, but his hips ducked as Daiki’s hands swept over the small of his back and spread his lower cheeks to expose the swollen and slick entrance. Daiki situated his cock between them, first brushing against the twitching hole, before placing the tip against the tight ring of muscle. As his large hands splayed on either sides of Taiga’s hips, he murmured, “Breathe,” reminding Taiga as much as himself as he slowly sunk into the intense warmth of a mortal. 

Taiga tensed but did as Daiki told, pushing back against Daiki’s refreshing coolness, hips rolling to get Daiki further and further into his body. He let out choked sob when Daiki finally pressed his pelvis against Taiga’s back, his cock completely enveloped to the hilt.

He leaned forward then, one shaking hand clasping Taiga’s face, and he devoured Taiga’s lips in a thorough, claiming embrace. Taiga was gasping and shaken, so the kiss was messy and wet. Cold tears smeared the sweat on Taiga’s scrunched face, but Daiki thought he’d never looked so beautiful. 

“Ready?” he whispered against Taiga’s lips. 

Taiga replied with a breathless affirmative. 

Daiki slid back briefly, almost coming out completely, before thrusting inward. Taiga released an animalistic howl, not unlike the werewolves Daiki had fucked, back arching, head flying up as his body was impaled. His shoulders slumped, body trembling fiercely, as Daiki rammed back in, not terribly hard but for a mortal—and a one-time virgin, uncomfortably fierce. Daiki almost pulled out when Taiga gasped, but then he heard the sputtered encouragement, “ _Nn-a-ah!…Is…Is that the b-best you c-can do?_ ”

“You shitting me?”

Taiga’s chest heaved; he looked moments away from passing out, but he huffed, “ _I-I’m not going to b-break._ ”

“Fuck!” Daiki leaned forward to capture those redden lips again. “You’re insane, y’know not that? And I love you for it.”

“ _Ahh…T-That’s what you love me for?_ ”

Daiki couldn’t believe he’d uttered the words, but now that he had, he felt uneasy and terribly fearful. If he loved Taiga, would someone take him away? Would someone target him to get to Daiki?

Before he could dwell upon that disturbing thought, Taiga snapped his hips, impaling himself further Daiki’s thick cock. “ _G-Get moving, asshole._ ”

Ah. Pet names. The normalcy of their very unusual relationship. 

Daiki began long, slow glides, calling out Taiga’s desire with strangled moans and choking cries before he quickened his pace, pounding relentlessly into the slayer’s perk backside. He reached around, curling his hands about Taiga’s weeping arousal, pre-cum now spilling freely from the top. Daiki timed his rigorous thrusts with his coaxing strokes, and once he hit a spot that made Taiga buck and his walls crush Daiki’s cock, he kissed the back of Taiga’s neck and laughed into the crook of it. 

“Found it,” he muttered, each thrust hitting the bundle of nerves that made Taiga go crazy.

Taiga held up with the punishing pace, much better than any partners Daiki had previously fucked—including those of the supernatural races—but he eventually began to beg, “ _D-Daiki…y-you gonna finish…what you s-started?”_

“I always do, Tiger.”

Taiga’s glistening skin and his once-virgin but still sweet scent, spoke to Daiki to bite it, to defile it, and to suckle the delectable crimson in a purely sensual and erotic discovery. 

But he wouldn’t. 

“ _Daiki—_ ”

Daiki’s smile grew sinister again, even if Taiga couldn’t see it, and he rammed into Taiga, running his thumb over the tip of Taiga’s swollen and throbbing erection. The orgasm that ripped through Taiga sent white streams of come spraying the pavement between their legs while Taiga’s walls clamped around Daiki’s pulsating cock, sending him over the edge as well. He spilled into Taiga’s spent body and filled him until cool, white liquid slipped down Taiga’s thighs, marking him with Daiki’s scent and taste. Even more potent than salvia, this would keep Taiga safe from other vampires for quite some time.

Still, Taiga’s sexual awakening didn’t end there. After they recovered—Daiki leaned his forehead against Taiga’s back, still stuffed in the younger mortal as he wrapped his arms about Taiga’s waist, keeping him upright—they returned to Touou’s den, where a majority of the vampires were at work in the tavern. Daiki taught Taiga many lessons that night—from the fine art of blowjobs to the blinding pleasure of rimjobs—before Taiga passed out on Daiki’s bed, sheet pulled up just to the curve of his backside, hair ruffled upon Daiki’s bare chest, sleeping safely and soundly against his vampire partner. 

There, in the most intimate moment they shared all night, Daiki confessed against the soft strands of Taiga’s head, “It’s not just because you’re insane that I…y’know.”

Without opening his eyes or even moving, Taiga mumbled tiredly, “Yeah, I know.”

Daiki jerked—Taiga was still awake?—but then relented when Taiga’s arms tightened around his torso. Sighing, he resigned to his fate and stayed up all day, just watching his wild tiger sleep like a kitten. 

*^*^*

“ _Where is he!_ ”

The growled demand could not be construed as anything but a threat, and Daiki immediately took the offensive. He forewent his current course—to enter the Moonlight Tavern and speak to Imayoshi—to lunge at the nearby slayer. Despite the last three years, despite the intimacy they shared and a bond that arguably rivaled the strength of Teikou’s, Daiki’s claws wrapped around Taiga’s throat as he thrust the mortal back against the nearest alley wall. 

But Taiga wouldn’t go so easily, kneeing Daiki in the stomach and sinking his steel dagger into Daiki’s forearm. Pain immediately sliced through Daiki’s body, but he endured it easily. Taiga still had a soft spot for him if he didn’t use silver, though Daiki wished he could say the same. He didn’t let go of Taiga’s throat, even as Taiga twisted the knife, but with his opposite hand, he twisted Taiga’s wrist, snapping it easily in two. 

Taiga had a blood seal, which meant he'd heal faster than a normal mortal, not that Daiki cared at the moment.

Using his own augmented strength, Daiki kept Taiga pinned to the wall with his body, teeth inches from Taiga’s throat, threatening to rip it out. 

“You fucking bastard,” Daiki murmured, anger flaring with a strength he never knew he could possess. “He was with you all along, you and Seirin.”

“Iwatobi said Teikou reformed—”

“You expect me to tell you anything after you—”

“—took him! He’s part of our clan—”

“He’s part of our coven!”

“Not anymore!”

Daiki froze, the truth hitting him harder than he wanted. While Teikou might have still be attached by their bond, they were hardly a coven anymore, and Tetsu chose to break his bond with Teikou rather than stay with them. He left and in Daiki’s life, created a gaping hole not even Taiga could fill. 

Tetsu hid his presence from the vampires, from Teikou, and only survived in shadows and whispers. 

“He came to us, wanting to leave your coven,” Taiga continued in a ruthless growl, “so I don’t know where you get off dragging Tetsu back to—uk!”

Daiki allowed Taiga to struggle for air for a few moments before a keel shrill called, “Dai-chan!”

Only then did Daiki loosen his grip. “You don’t get to call him, Tetsu. Only I get to call him that.”

Taiga sucked in a ragged, painful breaths, if his noticeable winces meant anything, and Daiki watched him through fierce, unapologetic eyes. Satsuki ran to his side, snatching his trembling fist and muttering his name over and over, chastising him for attacking a member of the Seirin clan, one of their most trusted allies.

But Daiki couldn’t fathom the hatred that coursed through his cold veins, the betrayal he felt. All this time, when Taiga slept next to him, or he sought Taiga on the basketball court, or Taiga stopped by the tavern—every single time, Taiga went back to his clan’s den and saw Tetsu, and not once did he mention this unconscionable fact to Daiki. 

“Where is he?” Taiga rasped this time, rubbing his neck where bruises already began to form. 

“Do you have any idea what hell I went through?” Daiki began in a low, malicious whisper. “I found that kid. I saved him from the Dark Claws, and I raised him in Teikou with the others. I fought for him. I killed for him, and you—” 

“You bit him.”

Daiki lashed out again, slicing his claws along Taiga’s cheek. 

“Dai-chan! Stop!” Satsuki situated herself between the shuddering Taiga, who leaned heavily against the wall. 

“You killed for him, but did you almost die for him?” Taiga demanded, low but equally as forceful. He tore his shirt, revealing his shimmering blood seal. It glowed an ethereal blue, the very color of Tetsuya’s eyes. “I was willing to give my life for him after you abandoned him.”

The blood seal—Taiga was connected to Tetsu? That was whom he had bonded with? Then, Taiga knew all Tetsu’s feeling intimately, truthfully. There could be no secrets between them. 

Daiki’s eyes darted; a cold sweat sent a chill down his spine. “I didn’t—Teikou didn’t—”

“You did,” Taiga pierced, head tipping back against the bricks as he sucked in sharp inhales. “Or at least, that’s how he felt.” 

No, no. Tetsu knew—Tetsu had to know how Daiki felt about him all those years ago, how he would do anything for him, even give his own life for Tetsu. 

But if he did, then Tetsu would never have run away. 

“Look, Tetsu’s awesome, y’know? He’s my little brother, too,” Taiga said, placing a hand on Satsuki’s shoulder to walk about her. He remained slightly hunched over, one hand cradling his ribs. “But he doesn’t belong in coven, never did. He’s mortal and should be in a clan, so just tell me where he is, so I can take him home.”

Daiki would regret the sucker punch—even though Taiga managed to block it—but no mortal was fast enough to catch Daiki’s subsequent attack, a knee to the gut. Taiga crumpled to ground, holding his middle and hissing out sharp breaths. 

“Shut the fuck up! Tetsu’s home now, and if he really wanted to go back to Seirin with you, wouldn’t he be able to show you where he is through that bond of yours? You ever think that maybe Tetsu doesn’t want to go back with you?”

Now Daiki collapsed to the ground when a dagger sliced through his sneaker and sunk into his foot. That was when Satsuki threw up her hands, uttering, “You two deserve each other,” and stormed off. 

Taiga flipped onto his back, laying side by side with Daiki, who now grunted with dry heaves to lessen the pain. 

“When are you going to realize it, Ahomine?” Taiga asked weakly. “Teikou fucked up big time, and nothing you do is going to repair the damage you did to him.”

Trust was a hard thing to earn back, and sometimes, it could never be. Perhaps he would have endure that burden from Tetsu, but he wasn’t the only one. 

Pushing to his feet, he was too hurt to take one last look at Taiga—sweet, eager, wild Taiga—and huffed, “Yeah, maybe we did fuck up with Tetsu, but y’know what? He’s family, so he’s going to have to deal with it. You and I ain’t nothing, and that’s just how we’re going to keep it.” 

Daiki half-believed Taiga would still be waiting outside for him when he left the Moonlight Tavern a little before dawn, but the alley was cold and abandoned when Daiki headed back to the tower. He loathed himself, but at the moment, he loathed Taiga more. 

*^*^*

His anger subsided drastically, despite his stubborn need to want to keep it. Tetsu adored Taiga. When he spoke of Taiga, his eyes brightened with a warm glimmer and a fond smile, and Daiki felt a twinge of jealousy. It passed quickly as he understood as well as anyone Taiga’s rough but endearing deposition. No one cared more about the people around him than Taiga, and Daiki missed Taiga’s warm skin against his and that unruly mop brushing his chin.

He would never forgive Taiga for keeping Tetsu from him, just like he would never forgive Tetsu for leaving Teikou. And he would probably never lose the panic that rose in his chest whenever he remembered the unbearable reality that was just less than a month ago, but like Tetsu left a gaping hole in his life when he left, so did Taiga. 

But all his anger dissipated in a single broken beckon. 

“ _Ta—Ta-iga…_ ”

Tetsuya collapsed on the ground, shuttering with tears streaming from his eyes, as he pleaded to Seijuro to lift the command. Then they were gone, racing to wherever Taiga was. 

Daiki’s heart throbbed in his chest. His saliva remained thick and heavy in his mouth, but all he could see were those wild eyes that stared up at him from the body of a fifteen-year-old slayer. And if he only admitted it to himself—taking on a whole Dark Claws’ coven by himself and surviving? 

Damn, that was impressive. 

_To Be Continued in “The Coven Formerly Known as Teikou”_


End file.
